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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of Ukrainians observed the longest day of the year on Saturday with a midsummer celebration of some of their oldest traditions, a display of cultural perseverance in a nation threatened by war.<\/p>\n
Rooted in Ukraine’s ancient past of Slavic paganism the event, Ivana Kupala, features rituals and symbolism to honor the summer solstice, related to fertility, nature, purity and renewal \u2014 values that predate the region’s Christianization at the end of the first millennium.<\/p>\n
At the open-air National Museum of Folk Architecture and Ukrainian Life<\/a> on the outskirts of Kyiv, participants in embroidered shirts and blouses strolled among thatched-roof cottages, wooden churches and windmills dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. Women and girls wore vinoks \u2014 wreaths made from wildflowers \u2014 as they took part in folk dances, games and craft workshops.<\/p>\n Viktoria Phi, a master of folk art at the museum, taught visitors to weave the colorful flowered headdresses. She said that Ivana Kupala, which also has variations in other Slavic countries from the Czech Republic to Bulgaria to Russia, was a \u201csmall oasis\u201d in the war in Ukraine, where people can \u201cwalk and enjoy nature, architecture, songs and dances.\u201d<\/p>\n “It’s most popular among young people, and I am very happy when a family comes with young children,” she said.<\/p>\n As the sun began to set over the wheat fields and wildflower meadows, hundreds formed a circle around a pyramid of logs. When the bonfire was lit, flames climbed into the twilight sky as music swelled and people spun around the pyre hand in hand. In a purification rite, some leapt over the burning embers.<\/p>\n